track before 1000 mile breakin period?

Any of you guys get your car on a track before the 1k mile recommended breakin period?

The owner manual just says to avoid excessive speed during that period... but what is excessive?

Track seems like the perfect break in.

I would wait till 1k, and change oil and filter before taking it to the track

melwff said:

I would wait till 1k, and change oil and filter before taking it to the track

Click to expand...

What is the reasoning?

Shouldn't be a problem. Change the oil before and after, and you're all set.

I wouldn't do it, but it's your car you'll probably be fine but is it worth the risk?

What risk exactly?

Competition Orange said:

What risk exactly?

Click to expand...

What is the purpose of a break-in?

Do you think Ford recommends it just so the owner can't have fun for a few weeks? They gain nothing from that.

So no answer then? Just say you don't know, it's fine.

Plenty of experiences with hard break ins, including one above, tracked with 700 miles, and mine was a hard break in from mile 8. No oil burning and no problems. OP should do what he's comfortable with, but let's not act like it matters for anything but missing the fun those first set of arbitrary miles you assign to the break in.

Whats a break in?

tyshenry said:

Whats a break in?

Click to expand...

This.

I leave the dealership on the limiter. If it's going to let go... It's going to let go.

Whats next? Not eating steak or having a beer because of health risks? It'll all be over soon... Have some fun!

Seems to me that moving parts that weren't fully broken in would be more prone to overheating - things like wheel bearings, transmission, differential, etc. Come to think of it my Focus ST manual said something to the effect of "meh, don't worry about a special breakin," and I assure you there was nothing particularly special or exotic about that car.

I've always broken in my cars/bikes with heavy throttle, but keeping RPMs reasonable until 500 miles. The two times over the last 20 years I took it totally easy during breakin resulted in 1 car needing a new short block at 4k miles due to heavy oil consumption, the other (a hayabusa) ran .2 and 4 mph slower through the 1/4 than the stolen 'busa it replaced. Only difference in the two bikes was breakin.

Competition Orange said:

OP should do what he's comfortable with, but let's not act like it matters for anything but missing the fun those first set of arbitrary miles you assign to the break in.

Click to expand...

Ford really should hire you, they have no idea what they're doing.

It probably doesn't matter, they obviously set the "break in" number high and really probably just recommend 500 but they know nobody has patience. WOT out of the dealership. I'll say it again- it's your car

Competition Orange said:

What risk exactly?

Click to expand...

(1) What do you know about "thermal shake-down"? Or unequal heating and local hot spots? Fatigue consequences from thermal stress?

(2) Have you ever assembled an engine with file-fit rings?

I used to get paid for understanding the first (different industry, but the metal wouldn't know that), and have done the second a number of times (there's something you definitely need to keep in mind).


Norm

Took my Harley to the drag strip just after I finished building the engine. Subsequently, never leaked a drop, had excellent compression, made more power than it was supposed to, and never had a single issue.